


Fight Song

by noblescientist



Category: Final Fantasy VIII
Genre: Gen, it's not romance but it's these two dorks idk
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-13
Updated: 2017-01-13
Packaged: 2018-09-17 07:56:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 811
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9312461
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/noblescientist/pseuds/noblescientist
Summary: Squall has been spending all his spare time fighting, and Rinoa is sick of it.





	

**Author's Note:**

> There is absolutely no point to this besides Squall being a bonehead and also analysing Zell's fighting style.

Squall had been spending all his free time in the training centre, and Rinoa was becoming concerned. It was the fourth time that day she had seen him leaving some meeting or other, tried to find him, and lost his trail-- only to end up at the training centre. The first three times she had decided barging in while he was fighting and potentially startling him was probably a bad idea, but this time she had had enough.  
  
She dodged a few monsters to find him, but eventually caught up with him squaring off against a T-Rexaur-- and immediately being thrown into the fence. She started throwing Blizzard spells while he summoned Shiva, and between them the T-Rexaur eventually fell.  
  
Rinoa stomped up to Squall and glared up into his face. He looked away and started picking frost from his hair. Just when Rinoa was about to demand just what he thought he was doing, he very quietly said, “thanks for jumping in.”  
  
Rinoa started, surprised. Then she sighed. “You’re welcome, I guess. Why are you in here by yourself, anyway? You’re the one always warning everyone how dangerous it is. You’re not invincible.”  
  
Squall turned away and barked out a laugh. “No kidding. That’s _why_ I’m here.”  
  
Rinoa gasped. “ _What?_ Squall, you’re not doing this intentionally to get hurt, are you? It’s not--”  
  
Squall looked straight at her then, startled. “What? No, I mean I needed a break from everything, that’s all. I…” he paused, clearly choosing his next words carefully. “I’m not… used to all the meetings. I guess I wanted to do something mindless.”  
  
She continued staring for a moment, then shook her head. “Only you would call swinging around a gunblade and fighting monsters ‘mindless’.”  
  
Squall sighed. “It’s not exactly like I have a sparring partner anymore.”  
  
Rinoa pursed her lips. “You may not have a sparring partner for your gunblade, but why not grab Zell and do some hand-to-hand? It’s not like you don’t have _any_ options.”  
  
Squall shook his head. “It’s no fun sparring with Zell. He’s both faster and stronger than I am, and the minute he gets me in a hold it’s over. There’s a reason I use a gunblade and he uses his fists.”  
  
Rinoa smirked. “Never thought I’d hear you praising Zell like that.”  
  
He quirked an eyebrow at her. “It’s not just praise, Rinoa, it’s fact. We fight totally differently. There’s no point.”  
  
She rolled her eyes. “Oh, come on, are you saying you can’t learn anything from Zell? Or are you scared?”  
  
His expression went flat. “Zell gets worked up too easily and doesn’t know how to pull punches when he’s too excited. I’d rather not end up with a busted face again because I was too slow to block him. Besides, to learn from a fight, you usually have to be in it for more than fifteen seconds before you’re locked in a hold you can’t get out of.”  
  
“You’re exaggerating.”  
  
Squall threw up his hands. “No, I’m not! Quistis timed us once! It was fifteen seconds to the first hold and then another twenty before he had enough joints locked that I couldn’t wriggle out of it.”  
  
“Well, what about Irvine?”  
  
Squall stared at her for a moment. “Do you honestly think Irvine ever wants to spar? I have the feeling he would only accept that invitation from a woman.”  
  
Rinoa snickered. “Okay, okay. What about you, then, who would you accept such an invitation from?”  
  
Squall was silent for several moments.  
  
“Well?”  
  
“I don’t know! Look, none of the guys are decent opponents and I don’t want to hurt any of the girls. I’m stronger than Selphie. Quistis wears glasses. And you…”  
  
Rinoa cocked her head, waiting for him to continue.  
  
Squall sighed and looked away. “I don’t want to fight you.”  
  
“Aw, come on! You had reasons for everyone else. Why don’t you want to fight me? It could be fun!”  
  
“No.”  
  
“At least tell me whyyy!”  
  
“Because I don’t want to.”  
  
Rinoa crossed her arms and stared up into his face again. “What if _I_ wanna learn, huh?”  
  
“Then talk to Quistis, she was a teacher.”  
  
Rinoa punched him in the chest in exasperation, and he met her eyes, startled. “I wanna learn from _you_ , dummy, not Quistis!”  
  
He blinked. “I’m a shitty teacher, Rinoa. I’m serious, if you talk to Quistis she can get you started. If you don’t already have a solid basis in hand-to-hand, I won’t know where to start.”  
  
Rinoa backed off a few steps. “Fine. I’ll talk to Quistis. But don’t you come back in here by yourself. You fight on a team or you find yourself someone to spar with, dammit.”  
  
Squall frowned. “You’re right. I’ll bring someone next time.”  
  
Rinoa nodded, and with that small victory, shoved him out of the training centre in front of her.


End file.
